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CHAPTER xu. A NEW OPESING. " She must be in a low state of health in- deed, to shed tears like that. for nothing at all," I said to myself, going out to my i work. But the explanation did not satisfy me. I could not dismiss the subject from my thoughts. Those three tears kept fresh in my memory all day, while a conviction grew that they had not been shed for noth- in at all. do was quite herself again at dinner- time. She was bright and cheerful all the evening. It was I who had to exert myself to appear at my ease. It hen the hour came to se arate for the night, I expected she wou‘. give me her hand after my advance in the morning; but she took the candle I had lit for her in her ' ht hand, holding a book in her left. ” \ ell, one of us must,” thought I; “ it’s ridiculous after shaking hands in the morn- ing to part at night as if we had fallen out since." “ So, as I said good-night, I held out my hand. ' “ Good-night, Gregory," she replied look- ing straight into my face, and disregarding my offered hand, " There’s some meaning in this,” I said to myself, when she was gone. “ I must think it out like a mechanical problem, or there‘ll be no going to sleep tonight.” I sat down with my elbows on the table, and my face in my hands, glaring at the pattern on the lampâ€"just as my habit was when some plan of communicated motion was in question, “ \Vhen I offered my hand this morning,” " â€"~.. thought I, “ and said I hoped she felt better or something of that kind, she gave me hers, and clasped mine tight. Her soft fingers quite clung to my hand‘.’ I can almost feel that clasp now; and she looked as if she could hug me. Then she was as pleased as pleased as 2:. child about the pictures ; said they reminded her of the morning when I brought her the flowers: that was a happy day for her. Suddenly, in the midst of her pleasure, she asks why I had brought her the books, and when I let out the truth she begins to cry. What next? I as good as ofi'ered to let her go to her children and» she refused, saying that her place was here while there was any hope of find- ing her'husbaud. After that she goes on in the old Way, justas if nothing had hap- pened, until now, when she declines to ac- cept my hand, and says, ‘ Good-night, Greg- ory,’ with thc air of a princess. 0h, she saw my hand clearly enough. It was not without a purpose that she refused it. There was a heap of meaning in that wonderful face of here! She put a stress upon ‘ Gre . ory.’ These are the facts; now what 0 they signify '2” The ideas simmered awhile in my mind, ‘ and settling down left the extract clear enough. “Good Lord l” Igaspcd ; “ she knows that I am her husband l” I mi ht have found this out a month be- fore if had given myself the trouble to think about it. With this key I found an explanation of all that had puzzled me hitherto. "' She knows I am her husband,” I con- tinued, following up my discovery,” and is prepared to acknowledge me when I attain to that standard which shall entitle me to such a wife. Well, that’s pretty good, too, considering what sort of a wife she’s been tome. However, I am content to let by- gones be bygoues ; though its pretty cool of her to take it as right. If she wants to wipe out old scores and start afresh, I’m willing. It’s the best thing we can do per- haps, to ignore the past. It’s the present we have to make the best of. It’s clear that she expects me to have a certain amount of affection for her. She is not con- tent with ancutral condition in which there is neither love ucr hate. She hopes to re- vive in my heart a feeling of disinterested love ; that explains her submission, her pa.- ticnce, her untiring efforts to make my life better and happier. When I brought her those flowers, she thought my heart was touched ; when I showed her that I had no heart to touch, her courage failed, but her ‘ hope was not quite dead. It revived this morning when I gave her my hand. It languished a sin when she learnt that I was concerns for myself and not for her. That’s it ; when I love her she will acknowl- edge me as her husband. Until then I am to be nothing but Gregory. She is ready to throw herself into the arms of the one; she refuses her hand to the other. And yet she stoop: without hesitation to do the work of a dgmc’stio servant. That’s something like u-u c.’ - . 2v would it be, I wondered if I throw off all die uise, and told her that I was not Gregory, ut Kit Wyndham, her husband? I could not see any advantage to be gained by that. It would simply precipitate the catastrophe I wished to avoid. All I wanted was that we should jog along mnic- ably together, with the hope that in time my wife would recoucxlc herself to the in. evitable, and settle down, satisfied with a rational state of companionship, without any stuff and nonsense. of love. ‘t‘hat seem- ed to me reasonable and right. Many couples after being married eleven years would be glad to be no worse 05 than that, and very few after such a term bother themselves or their husbands with senti- mental rnbbish. A man with the best dis- position in the world can’t give what he has not got ; and examining my feelings I found none that could be called love, or an thing like it. settled in the end that it would be best to let thin. take their course, and say nothing togsturb my wife; but, on the contrary, to do all that I could tomake her satisfied with her lot. One morning Hebe found me, seated out- side the shed I had fitted up as a workshop, doing nothing. “Her exclamation of our prise at this unusual “(Spectacle fell in cadence of anxiety as I ‘ my gloomy face. I was lad to see her; her, very presence was helpIul. I had come to respect nor l l W "BEYND‘RCAEL plauation, she fixed her eyes on the forge, and said-â€" “ Won’t the aunt work 3” “ That's all right.” She paused a moment, and then, with a fearful presentiment, exclaimedâ€"â€" “ 0. l forgot the rivets l" “ No, you didn‘t. They'r‘ there. You put ’em down on the list all right. I’ve got every thing. There’s the hopper cut out all ready to rivet, tube, valvesâ€"all." “ The water can’t help coming up when you turn out the lamp, can it i” “ Oh, no. The thing is bound to act. I'm sure of that. ” “ Then why can’t you get on '3" “ I don’t know. I’ve been growing slug- gish for the past fortnightâ€"losing interest in the thing; and just now, when Ihad my apron on, my sleeves tucked up, and all ready to begin, a feeling of disgust for the whole thing came over me that I hadn’t the, strength to overcome. I can’t explain it.’ ” I can,” she explained, with a. flash of triumph in her eyes, and a. smile mantling brightly in her face. “ It’s work for a blacksmith ; not for you 2” Oh, it was fineâ€"the scorn in her voice as she uttered that word “ blacksmith”â€"the scorn in her delicate nostrils, on her curved lip, its bloom beaded with moistureâ€"in her clear, dark eyes, in the dark curve of her bent brows. I smiled partly with amuse- ment, but more with admiration of that face. which had never before seemed so beautiful. Then as her brows rose, and the whole expression of her countenance relax: ed from severity to tender pride, another sentiment for which I cannot find a name thrilled in my veins: it may have been nothing but gratified vanity. , “ A blacksmith is as respectable as a car- penter or amason,” said I; “and you didn’t find me too good to build the room over there. “ It’s good to do all thatâ€"to be‘a meson. a carpenter, and blacksmith~auy:hing if on can do nothing better ; but look,” she said, laying her hands on my bare arm, I think, involuntarily, “ you wouldn’t have a great man like Tennyson cease to form grand conceptions and put them into noble and beautiful words, in order that he might make his poems up into books doing work that, a clever printer could perhaps do bet- t-er.= ' “ That is very good reasoning,” said I. “ But if we could get that water up without trespassing through the wet heather. " Why shouldn’t we?” she interrupted. “ To save us so much inconvenience is worth a certain sum, and ifa blacksmith will carry out your idea for that sum it is worth while giving it to a blacksmith to do. And surely we can afford it. There is all that money in my box we have got for the butter ; and if that’s not enough, there-are my rings.” ~ The shillings in that box were dear to her. In her. mind, I believe, it repre- sented subsistence for the future. Yet she was willing to give it all up for this pur- ose. I must have had a soul of adamant not to be touched by such self-sacrifice and de- votion. ., “ That’s true,” said I. I’ll give it to a blacksmith, I think. But Imust do some- thing. ” " If there were no better occupation, do on think I should have suggested aban- doning this? ” she asked taking her hand from my arm. ' “ Noâ€"unless -â€"” I stopped, surprised to find myself about to be playful. “ Unless what? ” “ Unless you thought that the blackmith 31311.1 forget all about you as the mason l .” She smiled and bent forward, her hands folded on her knees, and I saw the color rise to the angle of her ear, where a silky little She curl strayed from her waved hair. shook her head. “ I don’t fear that,” she said. “ You have never let me fetch the wood and water since." “Well, what shall I do '3” I asked, after watching her sidelong in silent wonder a little. " Invent ! invent l” She raised her head quickly, and spoke with animation. “ That is more than a common blacksmith can do. You have a head.” “ And hands as wellâ€"and they object to idleness.” “ Then why shouldn’t you employ them in working out some fine designâ€"«some work of art in which hand and head would work together. She struck the note I had in vain been trying to find, The old love of beauty had been awakened in me through watching her. It was that had made the hard line! of mechanics distasteful to me, and excited an indefinite yearning which the compass and the rule failed to satisfy. Her suggestion turned my thoughts at once to wood carv- ing, conveying the idea that was in her own mind. " I'll think about it,” said I, rising. “ Perhaps I’ll get a lathe." But going presently into the workshop to put away the abandoned sheets of metal, my eye was caught by a shining thread of copper, curled in a delicate spiral by the action of the shears in trimming the edge of a sheet. That conveyed a new scheme to my mind, and a whole train of ideas, which occupied my thoughts until Howler, bark- inga rhapsody, intimated that dinner was being put on the table. ” Have you been thinking about it 3” asked Hebe, as I entered. “ yes. You were quite right. It isn’t the first time I thought so.” She nad a loaf in her hands, but her look and mien as she acknowledged the compli- ment were worthy of a princess. “ I think I see my way to using head and band together." " Oh, I’m so glad. Tell me about it.” She set down the loaf, and came eagerly to my side as I seated myself, taking no notice of the pot that was boiling over. I rose and took it off the fire, on log we would talk about it over dinner. at she would have it that the dinner would be better for waiting till I had satisfied her . curiosity, and then when I sat down again ludgment oven in those matters which were” least within her e(palike mechanics. Shelves-odour sig t f :1,» aspirant up quic to train ho u possi ‘ ities. 8‘": the nob snickpewith my apron and mf‘evfomhforbhor. ed l It B optioned 2” she ask ow. ly. sitting down beside me. ’ '.‘ Nothing. I an’t- get so, that's all." she drew a chair beside me, and asked what it was I held so carefully in my hand. “They're copper shavings," said I. “Look at them; aren't they beautiful?” "I daresay they are more beautiful to an artist’s eye than they are to mine.” If you saw this long one mounted on a stem with a vine leaf beside it-" “That thread being the tendril. C h, yes, flocking into the workshop for a ex. ‘I see now, It is beautiful." '- Or if this whorl had another smaller whorl springing the reverse way with a con- ventional flower bud rojcctiug betweenâ€"3’ “Yes, yes,” she said eagerly ; “ I under‘ stand now. It never occurred to me what it was in a scroll that pleased me. Perhaps it was the conventional flower bad." “Why should a flower bud please beyond everything else in nature.” “Does it ‘2" " As a matter of fact I should say, no. But you see nothing but flowers and foliage used in ornamentâ€"if you except an occas- ional bird’s slow or beast’s leg. I believe new forms and finer combinations are to be got by studying new models, and the model of models should be the human form.” Hebe, looking at me in something like awe, asked in her low, sweet voiceâ€" “ What made you think of that '2” “ \Vhy, that little curl over your templeâ€" see, here it is in this thread ; and that one is the tiny ringlet at the nap: of your neck." Her cheek flushed and her eyes twinkled â€"she was as prettin confused as a young girl listening for the first time to a lover’s whisper. It was the awakening enthusiasm of an artist that stirred me, and nothing e se. “ It is beautiful any way you look at it,” I said, holding one of the shavin 3 up in the light»; “ the surface is tarnished and dark, but the out edge is bright, just like your hair in the sun.” She drew her head near mine to see it from the same point of view. "Oh. but that’s nothing to the lines I see in your face," I continued, catching the curve of her eyelash, the undulating line of her nose, the turn of her lips, the bold Epeep of her chin as I glanced at her pro- e. She drew back with a little cry of delight and waited in silence for further explana- tion. Then Ilaid out my design, which was nothing more romantic or extraordinary than to work up sli s of metal into orna- mental candelabra, ower holders, and the like; but had I been telling a wondrous fairy story to a child, I should not have found a more eager listener. Here, for her was an opening through which it seemed she caught a. glimpse of heaven ; and though other rifts had closed up, leaving nothing but a leadeu, dreary outlook, her hope revived with steadfast confidence in a future where every cloud should be swept away, and her sun shine out glorious. ~ And so I talked on and she listened, and we forgot our dinner until it was spoilt; and then even she who had prepared it could not find it in her heart to murmur a regret. CHAPTER XLII. 'rnn SIMPLE FAITH or WOMAN. We were both prodigiously excited over this new scheme. I believe Hebe was just as impatient as I to make a beginning. I remember that the wind sprang up after dinner, bringing gusts of rain ; the tors were hidden in clouds, and‘it felt raw and chilly outside. When I went in for the tlllfld time to see if tea. was ready, Hebe sat â€"- " We’ll have to light the lamp for tea be- fore long." “ We’ll'haveit to-day,” said I; “it won’t matter how long the evenings are now.” As soon as she had gone to her room to dress for the evening, I closed the shutters to shut out the gloomy sky. The rain pelted viciously against the window, but the sound of it was drowned by the singing of the kettle on the stove. The light from the fire fell on the tea things and white cloth, and spread a glow over the’ room that arouseda feeling of satisfaction and comfort within me, which put my boasted state of passive content toshame. It look- ed so genial t'natI refrained from lighting the lamp, that Hebe might share my pleas- ure. Going out for some fuel to stack under the stove for the evening, I caught sight of Howler standing at the end of his chain and shivering. He had been asleep in his kennel all day, and seemed to have come out for the express purpose of break- ing the monotony with a little positive suf- fering. He yawned as I passed, having not enough spirit left to growl. I unfastened the chain from his collar, not from any feel- ing of pity or love for him, but with the knowledge that it would please Hebe. Under these exceptional influences I put on my Sunday clothes, after I had washed, almost instinctively. Hebe also seemed to feel that this was an occasion for special attention to her appearance, for she was twice as long as usual over her toilette, and came down in the new dress she had made for herself. She was delighted with the cosy aspect of our room, and seeing Howler lying on the rug in the glow of the fire, is jaw on the ground, his tail beating the floor, and the whites of his eyes showing as he looked to- wards her, conscious that it was quite against ordinary rules for him to be there, and fearful of the consequences,‘she turned to me and saidâ€" “ Oh, that is kind l" We determined to have tea in the fire- light,aud while the tea was drawing I made some toast. Howler turned over on his back while I bent over him with the fork in my hand, as if he had made up his mind to die there without a growl ifI were mind- ed to take his life. “ That's better than quinine,” I said, when Hebe took a second piece of toast. “Do you know I only took two or three doses just at first,” she said, “ and I shall not need the rest? 0h l" she added, with an outbreak of gratitude, “it's coming back to meâ€"my life and strength." When the lamp was lit I Was struck by the prettiness and elegance of my wife's dress. It was a wonder how she had made it fit so well without assistance. “ How is it in the back 2” she asked, anxiously. “There's not a crease anywhere. It fol: lows‘ the beautiful line from your neck per- fectly." She laughed, and bent down to turn up the lamp; then I noticed that, though her hairwas freshly dressed, she had left as- tray the little curls that had moved me to admiration. " What shall you begin with? she asked when I brought out my drawing board. “ A mirror frame,” said I. “ A beautiful face ought bobs seen in a handsome set- ting, and this shall be for you." us would think I had been studying compliments, but indeed every word came to me naturally, just as rhythmical words suggest themselves when the thought is poetical. I drew first of all a rude outline, and then making Hebe at opposite, I worked in l I W the details, and elaborated them according to the idea I had conceived ; and from first to last- Hebe never stirred a band’s breadth, though I told her there was ad necessity for maintaininga pose. She had a book’be- fore her which she pretended to be reading at- her ease ; but not one page was turned. She was full of wonder and admiration when she saw the plan finished. “ That will be very beautiful," she said ; and then, after looking at it for some mo- ments, she asked-â€" “ But where am I '2" “ W'hy, everywhere ! There’s not a line that isn’t a faithful copy of some curve in l your figure and faceâ€"some fold in your drapery." Then I pointed out to her one after an- other the particular turns I had used, to her still greaterastonishment. I fancy she had a notion that the design was to be an effigy of herself in the position of Britannia, with the shield cut to let in the looking glass. The next morning I began to work out mering out the lead pipe I had procured for the water engine when she came into the workshop. “ Look how well the gray lead goes with the red copper,” I cried. “ I shall work them together, and see what an admirable effect is produced by cutting through the oxidised surface, You can see how rich the combination will be, and how one will lighten the other. And that’s not allâ€"we can get body by fluting the lead where strength is needed, and punching out oer- taiu parts in relief.” “ Will you be able to do all that before tea ‘3” she asked. I laughed at her. _ “ Why,” said 1, “ it will take me weeks : there are punches to make, and dies, and grills, and a tool for rivettiug before I can egm.” ' “ Then you won’t want me to sit to you tonight,” she said with asigh. “ Lot fora good fortnight,” I replied, laying a length of tube on the anvil and clinging away with my hammer. She was disappointed. I could see that by the constraint in her manner as she made an cxcuse for leaving me. The sound of the hammer on the anvil must have been as hate- ful to her ear as it was pleasant to mine. She had-reason to look with a jealous eye on mechanics as a. distraction dangerous to her own influence. Nevertheless she came back tome soon after, with not a sign of ill will in her face, to tell me that she had cleared the dresser and arranged it so that I could go on cutting out my “ punches and things" in the evening. - The metal-working fever lasted just as "long as there were technical difli- cultics to be overcome ; when there were no further calls upon my inventive in- genuity, I tired of it. The look of Hebe disgusted me with the state of my own hands, grimed with metal, and set off with a. thunibstall and a finger rag. Qoing'from the living room, with its perfect neatness, and a sweet smell of new bread, to the lit- tered workshop, the rank odor of lead and copper sickened me. It was a relief to go out into the open air and have a look at the clouds. They-are always beautiful, and if of the cumulus kind, you can invariably find a likeness to the face in your mind. I found Heb’e’s. For one moment it was ex- actly like her. It only needed a "piece of sunset flush to be perfect in color as well as form. When it lost shape, an inclination to go back and look at the real face became ir- resistible, and I glanced at. the dirty bench. I had some intention of asking if I had left my callipers on the dresser when I went in, but the open frankness of Hebe’s face shamed me from the mean excuse. “You haven’t hammered your finger again '2" she asked, with sudden anxiety. “ No; I’ve only come in to sit down in the clean,” I said, and then I confessed my disinclination to work. She could not quite conceal her triumph, though she did her best to subdue the smile on her face and still the twinkling of her pretty eye. “ It’s aqueer thing I can’t go on,” said I I to hide my mortification. “ But you can go on 1" she exclaimed, l “ and the strange thing would be if you I could stand still. And it is standing still to labor at anything that ceases to please you, for you may be sure that then it ceases to be a work of invention and worthy of you.” This reasoning pleased mo hugely, and raised the high opinion I already ad of my wife‘s judgment and understanding. “ Tell me,” she continued, “ have you left any difficulty unmatured '2” “ No. A boy might put the thing to- gether now.” “ There 1” she cried. “ Did not I say so? Are you to do a boy’s Work ‘2 Only when it pleases you to play. Set the pieces aside for the occupation of idle moments, and give yourself to drawing new designs--if you can use a pencil with that poor finger. ” “I’ll have to go at it tonight,” said I, joyfully. I’ve been itching to sharpen a pencil since Sunday, but I really hadn’t the courage.” “W but did you fearâ€"not mo ‘2” I said nothing, not knowing how to at- tribute the want of courage to anything else: “Have I shown want of faith in you ‘3" she asked, in tender reproach, quickly seiz- ing this first sign of humility on my side as an occasion for nearer approach. I got up, feeling that this subject of faith was the one of all others to be avoided if We were to go on pleasantly. She turned the theme at once. “Oh, I knew you would come back to me 2” she exclaimed, fervently. “I knew you would not go back to an occupation that shut me out from you." “How did you know that 2" “Because God is so good to us !" she said, in a tone of trembling awe as though she felt the Divine presence ; "so good to us that in the darkest hour We may be sure the light is coming. Everything grows and I moves onwards; daesu’t it? Nothing stands stillâ€"unchanged; and in every change there is some good if we have but patience to wait for it. Oh, I am so sure of it that all the happiness of the past I would not take again in exchange for that that is topome.” O O D I She would scarcely have found courage for that assertion had she foreseen what was to come. (m an cosrlsueo.) â€"â€"â€".â€"â€"+â€"â€"â€"_ Snowballing is a jolly old sport On which many men a rec : Itdepends on whether one s the snowballs: Or the hapless snowballeo. my design in metal ; new ideas came with I every step forward. Hebe found me liam- - year. HIGHLY Tat-BREED 3‘ "l - Frogs “rough: By a “can” Invalid to , may shay Amusing Tricks. Horace Horton has reached the height of‘ my ' *‘ in the way of bringing frogs under his persuasive control. He is anal thy in- valid, and derives great pleasure from teach- ing his pets. The correspondent of The Philadel his Record visited him the other day, our witnessed his unique frog circus.‘ Gazing down into the artificial lake he saw ocean shells scattered over the bottom and wondered what they were for. Mr. Hor- ton gavo ashrill whistle, and simultaneously from every shell hopped out a bi frog and kicked itself to the surface of t e water. All jumped to the mooth bank and sat staring at their master. “ Attention l" shouted Mr. Horton, and every leg was , drawn close to the body and the action was taken. "Form in line " came next, and the well trained amphibians formed in four lines with an old giant at. their head, which )1 r. Horton said weighed six pounds seven ounces. He was enormous and looked as though he had diucd on his weaker breth- ren for generations. At the word of command they rformed all kinds of evolutions, every leg iokiug in perfect unison. Their movements were astonishing in number and variety, and one might well believe Mr. Horton’s statement that it took him over 10 years to get this select company into such perfect discipline. Races were held after the drill, and then followed a jumping contest. At a given signal each frog in turn leaped into the water and disappeared. “ What you have seen my frogs do so far is very wonderful,” said Mr. Horton, "but their chief accomplishment you have not seen, or heard, I should say. It is the wonder of every one, and people have come miles to witness it. Wait till dark and then Iwill have them perform.” At last dusk came, and Mr. Horton took the re- porter out to the water’s edge and gave him a seat. He then brought out a miniature musician’s stand and placed it near the edge of the little lake. At a signal note the frogs came to the surface of the water and jump- ed into the stand. They formed a circle and at the word of command began to sing a tune. Each frog had been selected because of his fine crook, and there was a perfect scale among the voices. The largest frog sang the deepest bass, ands. little fellow, almost a tadpole, sang a shrill soprano. It was wonderful. Mr. Horton said that during the warm months their voices were clearer and sweeter than at thistime of the year. \Vhen the frogs began to show si no of weariuess their master gave the signs to stop, and all sought their homes at the bottom of the lake. Mr. Horton tells many stories of the intelligence of his pets. USEFUL HINTS. The following receipts may be found useful and valuable to artizans, especially if pasted in the hat, where they can always be at hand. To bronze iron castings.â€"Cleanse thor- oughly,an'd afterwards immerse in asolution of sulphate of copper, when the casting will acquire a coat of the latter metal. They must then be washed ,in water. Black varnish for iron work.-â€"Asphal tum, one pound; lampblr.ck, one-fourth pound; rosin, one-half pound ; spirits of turpentine, one quart ; linseed oil, just sufficient to rub up the lampblack with before mixin it with the others. Apply with a camel‘s air brush. Cement for steam pipe joints, etc., with faced fianges.â€"â€"White lead, mixed, two parts; red lead, dry, one part; grind or otherwise mix them to a consistency of thin putty; apply interposed layers with one or two thicknesses of canvas, or gauze wire, as the necessity of the case may 9. To solder without heat.-â€"-Brass filings, 2 oz. ; fluoric acid, one-fourth ounce. Put the filings in the acid, and a ply the solution to the parts to be soldere , after thoroughly cleansing the parts in contact; then dress together. Do not keep the fiuoric acid in glass bottles, but in lead or earthen ves- scls. To tiu copper and brass. -Boil six pounds cream of tartar and four gallons of water, . and eight ounces of grain tin or tin shavings. After the material has boiled a sufficient time, the articles to be tinned are at therein, and the boiling continued, chn the tinis precipitated in metallic form on the goods. Gold varnishâ€"For preparing a gold varnish for brass objects, instruments, etc.: Gum lac, pulverized, 90 grains; copal, 30 g.; dragon's blood, 1 3.; red sandal or Sanders wood,, 1 g.; pounded glass, 1 g. ; strong alcohol, 600 g. After suflicient maceration filter. The pulverized glass serves the purpose of hastening the solution 1:" interposing between the particles of gum lac and copal. ' Cement to resist red heat and boiling water.â€"-To four or five parts of clay, thoroughly dried and pulverized, add two parts of fine iron filings free from oxide; one part of peroxide manganese; one of common salt, and one-half part of borax. Mingle thoroughly, render as fine as pos- sible, then reduce to think paste with the necessary quantity of water, mix well; use immediately and apply heat, gradually in- creasing almost to a white bout. “Inter-resisting ccment.â€"â€"A good cement, which completely resists the solvent action of water, may be prepared in the following manner: From five to ten ports of pure gelatine are dissolved in 100 parts of water. To the solution is added about ton per cent. of a concentrated solution of bichromate of otash and the liquid kept in the dark. Vhen articles joined with this cement are exposed to light, the gelatino film is acted upon, the chromatc being partly reduced, and the film of the cement becomes tough and durable. Harmony in the Household. Mrs. Braceâ€"“ Do you and your husband ever disc 2" Mrs. Chaceâ€"“ No, indoodl husband never does.” _â€"_ Four thousand nine hundred and fifteen new books and 1,339 new editions, a total of 6," . were published in England last This is an increase of more than 500 over the production in 1891. Herbertâ€"“If she loves him, why don. she marry him in s 'to of her father's ob- jection 2" Stellaâ€"“ eroy ! Isn’t it a ood deal easier to give him up than to 't she is of age 3" At least my